ABILENE – A pair of wire-to-wire wins in the first and fourth sets coupled with a late-stage triumph in set two lifted Abilene Christian volleyball to a much-needed 3-1 victory over Lamar Saturday afternoon at Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats' overall and conference records improved to 11-15 and 7-7 following today's 25-13, 26-24, 20-25, 25-22 decision, which put them 2.0 games up on New Orleans (11-15, 5-9) and Incarnate Word (6-15, 5-9) with two matches left to play. ACU defeated both the Privateers and Cardinals earlier this season, but have one contest left next Thursday at UIW before concluding its season at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi a week from today.
The Islanders helped the Wildcats Saturday with a 3-0 win over UIW, while New Orleans held on for a 3-2 victory over Nicholls.
The most straightforward way for ACU to clinch a postseason berth is to sweep the Cardinals; however, even if the Wildcats lose, there are some
additional tiebreaking scenarios outlined here they may help.
Lamar proved resilient for the majority of today's match even after being pummeled by 12 points in the first set, during which the Wildcats outhit the Cardinals, .290 to .033. The second set then featured 15 ties and seven lead changes, and in the third set, Lamar used a late 6-0 run to take an insurmountable 21-12 lead.
Fortunately for the Wildcats, a 10-3 advantage in the fourth set provided enough cushion as Lamar once again clawed its way back into the match, scoring five of the seven final points after ACU went up 23-17. Tomar Thomas (17K, .158) recorded three kills during this stretch to make it a 24-22 score, but junior middle blocker
Lauren Walker came through with the match winner to finish with 11.5 points (9K, .500, 3 BLK).
"Our middles put up great numbers once again," said head coach
Angela Mooney. "Lauren had an excellent match offensively, seeing her pick up no errors with as many sets she received was pretty impressive.
"Kendall (Bosse) also played really good defense today. She was able to handle the hard-driven attack and at the same time, was able to see the tips early and dig the ball high to the middle of the court, and Mikai (Brown) passed really well too … Overall, I'm very happy how we gritted out the win."
Bosse assisted on Walker's strike to once again finish with a double-double of 18 digs and 44 assists. The Wildcats hit .211 for the match with Bosse directing the offense, which also included a 16-kill effort from junior outside hitter
Jacey Smith and 13-point performance from freshman middle blocker
Lorin McNeil (10L, .318, 5 BLK).
Lamar hit .122 for the match as the Wildcats dug out 68 of their 156 attacks and blocked nine shots. Sophomore libero
Amanda Chapa led the home team with 23 digs, followed by Bosse, and freshman
Katelyn Mueller (13).
Senior
Corinne Grandcolas, meanwhile, totaled 4.5 points in her final Moody Coliseum appearance. Grandcolas is on target to graduate next May with a degree in nursing.
Thomas led the Lamar offense in points (19.0) and kills, but her eight attack errors dropped her hitting percentage to .158. Bre'Ala Box, however, hit .643 by going 11 of 14 with two errors and Dannisha House chipped in 14.0 points for the 4-12 (2-13) Cardinals.
